Among Cousins and Bunnies
by MermaidOdair
Summary: Eight year old Sybbie Branson is stil unsure about her newest cousin, the young Marigold. But maybe a trip to her Auntie Edith and Uncle Bertie's house and the lost of a special bunny can change that. S/T secret Santa gift to Patanoo.


_HO!HO!HO! Merry Christmas!_

 _Alright I'm going to start by saying that I wish you all a merry joyfull christmas and a happy new year; that I hope you are all blessed and find hope and learn that life is good and that your 2016 is going to be awesome._

 _Secondly, this is my secret santa gift to the lovely Patano (patanoo on tumblr), it was lovely writing this and I am glad you let me follow my instinct and doing this, and I honestly hope you like it. I wish you all the best in your new year and with whatever challenges come to you I hope you overcome them (but honestly I hope there are none)._

 _Lastly, Merry Christmas!_

* * *

 _July 15th, 1928_

"Sybbie Branson, stop jumping." Tom told his daughter firmly. The youngest Barnson was jumping from seat to seat in the train, with the happiest smile in her face.

"I can't da, I'm too happy to stop." The eight year old answered and jumped once more before she was picked up by her mother and sat on her lap.

"We know you are over the moon to see your aunt Edith, Marigold, and Bertie." At Sybil's mention of her youngest cousin, the five year old Marigold, Sybbie's face changed to a slight pout, it is not that she didn't liked marigold, she just think it was strange that she did not saw her as a baby, and after all she saw George as a baby and he is her cousin, so why she didn't saw Marigold too?

Clearly when she expressed her concern about whether Marigold was a baby or not her mother explained to her. Deep down they knew there was a small jealousy in her words, but they knew she would get used to her little cousin at some point, just as she will do with her future brothers and sisters.

" _Why isn't marigold a baby?"_

" _What, my darling?" Tom asked, clearly confused by his daughter's words._

" _Why isn't she a baby like George? and why wasn't Auntie's Edith belly as big as Aunt Anna's was when you all said she was going to have a baby? Why didn't I get to meet her when she was little?" Sybbie asked, her head up high like a Lady -maybe she got that from Mary in the few months spent at Downton every summer._

 _Always the curious one of the family her name surely fits her._

 _Tom was, of course, glad when his wife intervened and explained the story to young Sybbie, saying that she didn't saw baby Marigold because the baby had to stay away for a while and that as her older cousin, Sybbie needs to be really nice to her and show that she loves her._

 _Not that Sybil was very happy with it, but later she got around with it._

Little Sybbie Branson was feeling well with the answer she got back then and even played with Marigold for a while last summer but it wasn't like the two are the best friends. _They're just fine with each other._

Tom looked happily at his daughter who has now rested her head on her mother's shoulder and smiled and Sybil stroked her hair. "We'll be there soon love, don't worry."

The rest of the ride was spent with Sybbie alternating between her mother's and her father's lap. Sybil knows that little Sybbie is the best thing in her life.

And that is why she knows just how hard it must have been to Edith to stay away from her daughter for so long.

She remembered how Marigold was when she first saw it. back then Edith still pretended that the baby wasn't her child, but Sybil knew all along. Just one look at the child and she knew.

The young girl looked scared, but she certainly enjoyed Edith's care. And the way Edith held her (almost as if she was terrified of the thought of losing the small blonde child).

"Looks like we arrived, my love." Tom says and picks their bags as Sybil and Sybbie walk with him outside. Edith had sent a letter saying she and Bertie would be waiting for them on the train station, ready to take them to Brancaster.

And there she was just like she promised, and the happiest Sybil had seen her since she got Marigold to live with her. Maybe it was just living the life she always wanted to live -peaceful and away from the constant fights at Downton- or maybe it was Bertie.

A huge part of her says it is both.

"Sybil! Tom!" Edith shouts happily walking fast in the direction of the couple. "Sybbie!" The middle Crawley sister says picking her niece in her arms. "Oh, for heaven's sake, look at you, so pretty and big."

Looking over her aunt's shoulder, Sybbie sees Bertie -whom she had met only two times before- with Marigold in his arms. Sybbie notices her mother picks the girl and kisses her face, but she isn't that jealous, only because aunt Edith is with her; if she was alone, well then maybe, just maybe, she would be a little bit jealous. Or maybe a lot.

"I hate to be the one to destroy the moment, but we better go, there's still a long way to go." The new Marquess of Hexham spoke and the reunited family went talking all the way to the car.

Sybbie was walking and Marigold was in Edith's arms, playing with a stuffed bunny. It looked very familiar to Sybbie's very own bunny, only hers was safely guarded in her bag. Both bunnies were a present from their grandpa Robert and Grandma Cora, so both children treasured it very much.

Sybbie felt a bit jealous of Marigold back then, of her relationship with grandpa Robert, who was really good to her -even when she called him 'Donk'- but she knew that she needed to share him, her whole family with _her._

When the family walked inside the car the first thing that was heard was a small cry of a baby, it was clearly Marigold and she looked terrified and oddly sad for a small girl who was smiling just minutes ago.

"What is it, honey?" Edith asked, but the child said nothing in return, she just looked outside and pointed out as the car stopped suddenly.

"Bunny." Marigold answered.

 _Oh no_ , Sybbie thought to herself, _She lost the bunny!_

It was clearly an atrocity to have lost the family's bunny, especially when everyone knows it is the bunny that keep us safe at night. _well, at least for young children they do._

Little Sybbie didn't gave much thought to it afterwards. What could she do anyway? Give her bunny to Marigold?

No, Sybbie wouldn't do that, she simply can't do that.

Even if she is the older and therefore responsible for the four year old.

But later that night, after Sybbie watched just how miserable little marigold looked -even after bertie said he would give her a new bunny, and Auntie Edith said that grandpa wouldn't mind giving her a new one- and she knew she needed to do something.

They were sleeping in the same room, on near by beds and sybbie was hugging her own bunny very tightly and she knew Marigold was watching her with sad eyes.

She is an only child, but if she ever had a sibling, then she knows she would do something for them. And that is why she needs to do something for Marigold.

"Do you want my bunny?" The older child asked. Marigold didn't seemed to understand at first so she repeated the question another time. "Do you want my bunny?"

"But it's yours." Marigold answered. Clearly if she was anything like her mother, Sybbie knew she couldn't leave Marigold sad _-even if that meant sleeping without the bunny protection._

"I will be fine, you're only five." Marigold sat on the bed after her cousin's statement.

Sitting on her cousin's bed, Sybbie handed her the old, but well taken care bunny. "We're cousins, right? we must stay together and I can't let you sad."

"Alright." Marigold accept the bunny and laid in her bed, being covered with the light blanket by her oldest cousin. Who then proceeded to lay on her own bed. Both small girls were completely unaware to the four people who were watching them from the door, which was open just slightly enough to let the room be lit by the corridors lights.

The two sisters held hands as the youngest of them placed a hand on her still flat belly and felt her husband kiss her cheek.

"We better leave, we don't want to wake up our little angels."

* * *

 _ **Feliz Natal!**_


End file.
